Comparison of two broadly multiplexed PCR systems for viral detection in clinical respiratory tract specimens from immunocompromised children

Abstract Background The detection of viral respiratory tract infections has evolved greatly with the development of PCR based commercial systems capable of simultaneously detecting a wide variety of pathogens. Objectives Evaluate the relative performance of two commercial broad range systems for the detection of viral agents in clinical respiratory tract specimens from immunocompromised children. Study design A total of 176 patient samples were included in the analysis, representing only the first sample collected for each patient, and excluding failed reactions. Samples were de-identified and assayed in parallel using two different, broadly multiplexed PCR systems: ResPlex™ II Panel v2.0 (ResPlex), Qiagen, Hilden, Germany and FilmArray® Respiratory Panel (FilmArray), Idaho Technology Inc., Salt Lake City, UT. Method comparison was based upon pair-wise concordance of results according to patient age, viral target and number of targets detected. Results The two systems showed an overall concordance, by patient, of 83.8% ( p = 0.0001). FilmArray detected at least one target in 68.8% of samples, while ResPlex detected at least one target in 56.8%. ResPlex failed to detect 20.7% of FilmArray positives, and FilmArray failed to detect 4% of ResPlex positives. The relative performance of each system (including which system detected a higher number of positive samples) varied when stratified by target viral pathogen. Conclusions Broadly multiplexed PCR is an effective means of detecting large numbers of clinically relevant respiratory viral pathogens.